Evaluating software engineering methods and tool part 1: The evaluation context and evaluation methods

  • Authors:

  • Barbara Ann Kitchenham

  • Affiliations:

  • NCC Services Ltd, National Computing Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 TED, England

  • Venue:
  • ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes
  • Year:
  • 1996

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Abstract

In the last five issues of SIGSOFT Notes, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger has discussed the use of formal experiments to evaluate software engineering methods and tools [1]. Shari's articles were based on work she performed for the U.K. DESMET project which aimed to develop a methodology for evaluating software engineering methods and tools.The DESMET project identified a number of useful evaluation methods in addition to formal experiments, and Shari asked me to continue this column by describing some of other methods. As a starting point, I will give an overview of the scope of the DESMET methodology in this article and describe the nine different evaluation methods DESMET identified. In the next few articles I will discuss criteria for selecting a specific method in particular circumstances. Later I will present the DESMET guidelines for performing quantitative case studies and feature analysis.